Discussion Topic

Bruce...They did the tax thing with cigarettes here in california to discourage smoking...Not sure if it's working as i read smoking among teens was on the rise but it's a good idea to tax the hell out of it...unless you are a responsible gun owner...I'm off to hunt elk with Ron. .It's .177 season in northern Nevada...

So you're OK with kids being killed at school, as long as the government gets a taste of the financial action?

You worship the government worse than those fundamentalist Pentacostal snake-handlers worship Jesus. Pray to Washington to cure what ails you. If that doesn't work, just pray more and pray harder to Washington.

I've noticed that the biggest critics of hunting seem to know the least about it.

I haven't hunted in years, but still eat meat, a lot of chicken, but still some red meat.
Anybody that is a carnivore has no business putting down hunting. It is an efficient way to obtain protein, a challenging sport, and carries on an American tradition of self reliance.

Dave, while I agree that a mental health approach is important in reducing gun violence in this country, I am uncertain that the banning of certain individuals from owning guns is any more palatable than banning guns altogether. What entity determines one's fitness for firearm ownership? What if you get banned but all those around you are still permitted to own them?

I disagree Ron, the tradition of self reliance and initiative is stronger in North America which is populated by people who weren't satisfied with the old world and went looking for better (including Indians).

Just three Americans are easily responsible for more innovations in modern firearms than all the other designers put together;
Sam Colt
Hiram Maxim
and the big one John M Browning

As they investigate the latest school shooting in the United States – Friday at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo. – one thing is clear to law enforcement officials there: The presence of an armed deputy sheriff on regular duty at the school was the key factor in preventing more deaths and injuries

The presence of an armed deputy sheriff on regular duty at the school was the key factor in preventing more deaths and injuries.

And there's your obvious answer (as is the known presence of sky marshals on airliners).

The problem with these gun-free zones is that they are only gun-free until the whack job shows up. And then, only the whack job is armed.

You have a fork in the road here. Either the frequency of these incidents is deeply troubling, or (tragic as each one is) the frequency is not too terribly troubling. I assume from the responses on this thread that everybody is agreed that these incidents are deeply troubling. So, we need to get serious about what the real problem is and address it as best we can.

So, like with inner-city schools, we need to recognize that all schools (and malls) need an armed and trained presence. Then the whack jobs will at least know going in that they are going to be stopped before they get very far into their spree, and they ARE going to die.

There will be some deterrent effect, once the knowledge becomes widespread that schools and malls are no longer gun-free zones. And the smaller number of whack jobs that are still going to do this sort of thing anyway WILL be stopped quickly, before they can get very far into their spree.

If you're serious about protecting school kids, then instead of a Quixotic campaign that has no chance of success, you have to think of each situation tactically. Get trained people into each school to evaluate the situation, and put armed and trained boots on the ground as appropriate to address plausible scenarios.

And then, in the land of the free and the home of the brave, just accept the fact that you cannot in principle foresee or respond to every possible threat; and innocent people, some of them kids, are going to die.

Haters gonna hate. Killers gonna kill. Sweeping gun control doesn't materially address those facts. Better to get to the bottom of what makes somebody even think to do something so atrocious than to fixate on his implement of choice. Remember, Australia touts a "win," but the same number of people are getting mass-murdered; only now they are getting set on fire instead of shot.

Build a man a fire, and you keep him warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and you keep him warm for the rest of his life. --